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said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œWell, I scraped my leg on a branch and got a deep gash. I’ve got to get home,” he said, explaining that he’d run into a bush on his bike, snagging his leg on a twig that was sticking out into the trail.
    A week or so later, he even took her to the trail to show her the twig. He said he also got scratches on his arm when he got off his bike, hiked down into a gulley and up on a hill to look down on the lot that he and Carol used to own. To Renee, Steve had always seemed like a pretty sentimental guy, so it didn’t seem strange to her that he would go back to that area to look around.
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    At 10:16 P.M ., seven minutes after Steve got home, Charlotte used her separate code to enter the security gate and pulled her white BMW into the condo garage next to Steve’s. The interior lights of his car were still on—the ones that stay on briefly after the ignition goes off, or if the door is accidentally left open.
    As she and Jake walked up the stairs and into the condo, they heard the shower running in Steve’s bedroom, which was just off the dining room.
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    Carol’s brother, John Kennedy, finally reached Steve on his cell phone around 10:30 P.M . to personally relay his and Ruth’s concerns about Carol in a three-minute call. But John barely had a chance to say anything before Steve interrupted.
    â€œHey, look, I’m standing here dripping wet. Just stepped out of the shower,” he said, adding that he’d been out on his mountain bike for a long ride.
    John tried to explain what had happened during Ruth’s call with Carol, and asked if Steve would please go out to the house and check on his ex-wife. But Steve refused without hesitation.
    â€œNo, I will not,” he said.
    John tried modifying his request, explaining that he and Ruth thought something bad might have happened to Carol. “Why don’t you just drive by and see if everything looks okay?” he suggested.
    It didn’t make any difference. Steve said no, absolutely not, because she might have a date over. He didn’t feel comfortable stopping by at this late hour and infringing on her privacy.
    As soon as they hung up, Steve sent Carol a text at 10:35 P.M ., then called her cell phone three minutes later to leave a voice mail with essentially the same message: “Carol, I just left a message on your—out at Bridle Path. Would you give us a call? Your brother called me and he was worried because your mom was talking to you and all of a sudden you guys got disconnected. She said that you exclaimed something and hung up and then they haven’t been able to get a hold of you. So people are a little worried, and they just want to know you are okay. Would you call,” he said, pausing, “excuse me, call us, call your mom. Bye.”
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    As Steve emerged from his bedroom wearing a towel, he asked what Charlotte and Jake were making for dinner.
    â€œStir fry, rice and vegetables,” his daughter replied as she was cooking.
    Steve asked if they had anything for the laundry, then started the washing machine. It was a small load—just Steve’s workout socks, underwear, shorts and shirt. He told investigators later that he normally did a load of clothes every day.
    Noticing some fresh scratches on Steve’s left arm and leg, which were bleeding, Jake commented that the wounds looked pretty bad. “Are you okay?” he asked.
    â€œI’m fine,” Steve said, “just really tired. It was a really long ride.” He mentioned that because of the flat tire, he’d had to walk his bike four miles back to the car and had gotten scratched by some bushes on the trail.
    After Steve finished getting dressed, he came out of his bedroom wearing shorts and a T-shirt. He joined the kids at the table, where he talked about the stock market and made general conversation as they ate.
    â€œWhen was the last time you